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NZXT Source 220 Case Review

Closer Look:

As I take away the foam and plastic I find a nice simple design beneath it. It is basic, black, and even painted on the inside — a major bonus. It already looks pretty classy and it’s just sitting here. I still can’t get over how NZXT is willing to put the extra effort into painting the interior. I’ve bought much more expensive cases that I’ve had to paint myself to get the same finished effect. It really adds more to any case, no matter the size or price range — it just shows that the manufacturer finished the product. Very impressive yet again NZXT!

Moving right along, the case seems like something I’d see on my desk at work, or something very subtle for a living room computer or sophisticated office. It doesn’t scream "freak gamer" with mind-blowing orange, yellow, or blue, but remains classy in all black. Again, back to the idea of setting up a rig in your living room — no arguments with your significant other.

Looking at the sides there isn’t too much to say. They both hold up to a simplistic plain, black, flat panel. One of the seven fans can be placed on the hardware side of the case — perfect for pushing extra air on a hot CPU or GPU. The other panel does its job as it hides all messy cable work.

The front of the case is pretty basic with your mesh bay coverings and a large mesh covering below that. Immediate attention is drawn to the fact that the top edge of the design isn’t straight. It took me several photo attempts to figure out why it looked crooked to me. It tapers off from a higher edge on the left to a lower edge on the right. It seems to make room for a subtle addition of USB ports and headphone/mic jacks. Like the NZXT Tempest 210, there are three 5.25” slots to mount your water bay, optical bay, or what have you.

The power and reset buttons are located just below the third bay slot. The power button being the larger of the two makes it easy to find, yet hard to bump by mistake. The power button looks as if it might light up around the edge to provide a quick glance to whether your quiet machine is in the on or off position. The bottom left edge of the case carves out a subtle credit to the company that brings this beauty to us NZXT.

Taking a top-down profile of the case’s front edge we find another non-symetrical appearance following the same slant as the front edge of the case. One edge tapers down to the other showing the edge of the top bay cover from above. This doesn’t really affect the way the case performs, but it was something I noticed while handling the case. I like the consistent pattern!

Taking a look at the overall case as well as peering around to the back side of the case it appears to be a Plain Jane build. Not overly done, this gamer case just needs some hardware and it is ready to go. It seems to have the same appearance as the NZXT Tempest 210 from the back side. Let’s open it on up and see how things are going to work on the inside.